Apple At Work teams with CDW to help enterprise deploy Macs, iOS in employee choice initia...

Apple is expanding its efforts to make it easier for the enterprise to more efficiently buy or lease iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watch, Apple TV and other products in a new initiative it is initially rolling out with CDW.

In its conference call today, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook outlined an expansion of its "Apple at Work" initiatives, intended to help enterprise Information Technology workers to more efficiently procure, manage and deploy Macs and iOS devices for their workers.

CDW, Apple's initial launch partner, has been selling education, business and government agencies technology products and services for 34 years. By working with CDW as a partner, Apple can focus on making great products while benefitting from the experience of a well-known vendor to support and facilitate sales relationships with enterprise buyers.

A rapid expansion in the enterprise

Apple publicly launched its first big iOS enterprise partnership with IBM in 2014. Last summer, IBM's General Manager of Offerings and Solutions Mahmoud Naghshineh stated in an interview that "Apple devices are already pervasive in the enterprise."

He added, "we're delivering innovative apps, securely integrated with a company's enterprise data, taking advantage of the Apple user experience to change the professionals mobile experience," noting that IBM now has a team of 10,000 designers and developers working to assist enterprise users to create custom iOS apps, working out of centers in Shanghai, Bangalore and Bucharest.

Apple at work on Apple at Work

The company recently refreshed its Apple at Work website, which outlines for business professions why they should consider Macs and iOS devices.

The site cites Apple's partnerships with IBM in building over 100 custom enterprise apps driven by big data analytics, as well as SAP and its iOS integration with its business process tools, Deloitte's dedicated team of 5,000 Apple-specific consultants, an iOS-specialized practice run by Accenture, GE's support for iOS industrial apps using the Predix SDK and Apple's work with Cisco to optimize the performance of iOS and Mac apps on its networks.

The company also provides a white paper focusing on Employee Choice for IT, detailing a Jamf Employee Choice survey that highlighted when given the choice, about 3 out of 4 employees picked Apple for use at work.

It also cites a Gensler Workplace Study that indicated that "employees with choice can have a notable impact on their individual levels of innovation, job performance, and job satisfaction."

And yet they completely f'ed up macOS Server, and there's not a single Mac in the current product lineup that's really suitable for server use.

Apple is schizophrenic.

There’s nothing schizophrenic about it. Apple got out of the server business because no serious company would run on Apple servers. This was a small business solution, but now there are viable cloud alternatives. Windows, Linux, Unix servers held 99.99% of the market share when Apple was selling XServe.

Steve Jobs made the right strategic decision when Xserve was discontinued. Apple was building their own data centers and equipping them with Linux servers running on non-Apple hardware. It was a moment of truth that Xserve had to be retired. Apple tried to support the server software for 8 more years, but now there’s no more compelling reason to continue.

And yet they completely f'ed up macOS Server, and there's not a single Mac in the current product lineup that's really suitable for server use.

Apple is schizophrenic.

Try to keep up. The whole planet and its mother is heading for the cloud. Over the last four years of development work, I have not deployed a single app to a local server. They’re developed on desktop machines then pushed up to a service such as Heroku or Amazon directly.

And yet they completely f'ed up macOS Server, and there's not a single Mac in the current product lineup that's really suitable for server use.

Apple is schizophrenic.

Mac OS X Server has been dead forever and nobody in the enterprise uses it. It was a $20 package of utilities with a dummy interface that was only useful to people who had no business running a server connected to the internet.

Selling Macs and iOS devices to the enterprise is not at all connected to Apple's failed 1998-era concept of having a workgroup server running like a Mac.

It's like saying "why is Apple selling AirPods and HomePods after it pulled out of the printer and camera business!?!"

I spent years being frustrated with file attachments being unrecognised as winmail.dat files. This included a simple .jpeg photo sent by another computer on my home network to my Macs.

Industry-standard .ics calendar attachments that do not even show up in iOS appear on my Macs but end up crashing the calendar app or not making the transition and I miss meetings & telephone conferences or end up calling into cancelled tele-cons.

Do not forget that a lot of Industry-Standard programs are PC only and not available for Mac.

Then...and this is not Apples fault but cross-platform incompatibility between Microsoft Office files leaves me completely out in the cold trying to use any of my Macs and/or iOS devices for business.

There have been many more issues but these are the ones that immediately spring to mind.

I can only speak as I find but for me the Mac is a non-starter in a business environment.

And yet they completely f'ed up macOS Server, and there's not a single Mac in the current product lineup that's really suitable for server use.

Apple is schizophrenic.

What company would ever use macOS Server in today's world? There's no need to. Most companies that have Macs and/or iOS devices use an MDM such as Jamf Pro to mange them, and on the Mac side, there's also imaging tools so you don't need macOS Server for that. They more than likely already have Active Directory accounts so Open Directory isn't necessary. Advanced File Sharing is already built into macOS High Sierra along with Advanced Time Machine backups. I guess Apple could build Netboot into macOS 10.14 and then really you don't need Server for anything else.

Most companies that use something like Jamf Pro have it on a Windows Server, not a Mac Server. I, myself do use it on a 2014 Mac mini and it runs fine and I use Time Machine backup to back it up to a NAS server.

Apple stopped selling Xserves because basically they didn't sell so it wasn't worth it for Apple to keep investing into Xserve.

And yet they completely f'ed up macOS Server, and there's not a single Mac in the current product lineup that's really suitable for server use.

Apple is schizophrenic.

What company would ever use macOS Server in today's world? There's no need to. Most companies that have Macs and/or iOS devices use an MDM such as Jamf Pro to mange them, and on the Mac side, there's also imaging tools so you don't need macOS Server for that. They more than likely already have Active Directory accounts so Open Directory isn't necessary. Advanced File Sharing is already built into macOS High Sierra along with Advanced Time Machine backups. I guess Apple could build Netboot into macOS 10.14 and then really you don't need Server for anything else.

Most companies that use something like Jamf Pro have it on a Windows Server, not a Mac Server. I, myself do use it on a 2014 Mac mini and it runs fine and I use Time Machine backup to back it up to a NAS server.

Apple stopped selling Xserves because basically they didn't sell so it wasn't worth it for Apple to keep investing into Xserve.

Small shops use macOS server for other things than MDM or imaging. They still need file sharing, user accounts, file/folder permissions (which fail miserably on macOS server), etc. I suppose they could move to Windows Server but macOS server is still useful for that if not used for anything else.

I think it all depends on your needs! Who wants to pay Jamf or another company crazy license fees? I sure don't! OS X Server was cheap and did mostly what you needed which was management and imaging in a some what easy to use interface. I still have two Xserve machines running and still using WGM and does what I need it to do. Profile Manager and other MDM solutions just plain suck and cost too much. Mostly all MDM solutions are convoluted and would swear MS designed them.

Apple is pointing OS X towards and iOS system and I am betting they will eventually combine and macOS will act like iOS and you will only be able to get apps from an app store, etc. I see Windows moving to a licensed subscription model with Office.

Products are going to sh!t if you ask me and being crippled! Imaging is basically dead on the Macs starting with the new iMac Pro and will most likely follow on to other new introduced hardware. This is further combining iOS and macOS!

I think it all depends on your needs! Who wants to pay Jamf or another company crazy license fees? I sure don't! OS X Server was cheap and did mostly what you needed which was management and imaging in a some what easy to use interface. I still have two Xserve machines running and still using WGM and does what I need it to do. Profile Manager and other MDM solutions just plain suck and cost too much. Mostly all MDM solutions are convoluted and would swear MS designed them.

Apple is pointing OS X towards and iOS system and I am betting they will eventually combine and macOS will act like iOS and you will only be able to get apps from an app store, etc. I see Windows moving to a licensed subscription model with Office.

Products are going to sh!t if you ask me and being crippled! Imaging is basically dead on the Macs starting with the new iMac Pro and will most likely follow on to other new introduced hardware. This is further combining iOS and macOS!

What MDM solutions have you used other than Profile Manager, which I agree sucks and even Apple doesn't use it? They use Jamf Pro. If you've ever used Jamf Pro, its very easy to use and is very powerful and makes it so you can manage your devices from anywhere in the world as long as you have internet access. If you want to have Macs and/or iOS devices then you either have to keep what you have if it works, or pay to play and upgrade your stuff.

Its obvious that a lot of people don't mind paying for an MDM. You can use Deploy Studio for imaging as long as you have a netboot server. This is what I use and you can still tie it into your MDM, even if you don't use the MDM for imaging.

Yes, Apple is moving away from imaging, but things don't last forever. IT departments need to step up and stop being so stubborn and actually learn new ways of doing things as technology changes. This is is what separates a good IT Dept from a bad one. I cannot stand when IT departments piss and moan about new technology because they're old geezers who want things the way they were 20yrs ago instead of actually expanding your knowledge portfolio. And in case you're wondering yes, I work in IT, managing iOS Devices, Macs, PCs, ChromeBooks, and Promethean ActivPanels (think big Android tablets in a tv screen).

If what you have is working, then continue to use it until it no longer works and then you'll just have to bite the bullet and upgrade.

And yet they completely f'ed up macOS Server, and there's not a single Mac in the current product lineup that's really suitable for server use.

Apple is schizophrenic.

What company would ever use macOS Server in today's world? There's no need to. Most companies that have Macs and/or iOS devices use an MDM such as Jamf Pro to mange them, and on the Mac side, there's also imaging tools so you don't need macOS Server for that. They more than likely already have Active Directory accounts so Open Directory isn't necessary. Advanced File Sharing is already built into macOS High Sierra along with Advanced Time Machine backups. I guess Apple could build Netboot into macOS 10.14 and then really you don't need Server for anything else.

Most companies that use something like Jamf Pro have it on a Windows Server, not a Mac Server. I, myself do use it on a 2014 Mac mini and it runs fine and I use Time Machine backup to back it up to a NAS server.

Apple stopped selling Xserves because basically they didn't sell so it wasn't worth it for Apple to keep investing into Xserve.

Small shops use macOS server for other things than MDM or imaging. They still need file sharing, user accounts, file/folder permissions (which fail miserably on macOS server), etc. I suppose they could move to Windows Server but macOS server is still useful for that if not used for anything else.

File Sharing and permissions are built into macOS High Sierra. One of the features of High Sierra was Advanced File Sharing with advanced permissions. Nothing is stopping you from using your current setup, but eventually, you'll have to change once it no longer meets your needs. I wouldn't worry if everything is working fine at the moment. Just be prepared for when something does happen, whether its hardware, or software.

And yet they completely f'ed up macOS Server, and there's not a single Mac in the current product lineup that's really suitable for server use.

Apple is schizophrenic.

Mac OS X Server has been dead forever and nobody in the enterprise uses it. It was a $20 package of utilities with a dummy interface that was only useful to people who had no business running a server connected to the internet.

Selling Macs and iOS devices to the enterprise is not at all connected to Apple's failed 1998-era concept of having a workgroup server running like a Mac.

It's like saying "why is Apple selling AirPods and HomePods after it pulled out of the printer and camera business!?!"

Sorry Daniel, but you haven't had to work in an enterprise environment where Mac users have had to fight for every Mac they needed to buy. We've had to constantly fight discrimination from IT managers and department heads who were locked into the Microsoft ecosystem. We were always relegated to using patched software that never helped us do out job. Of course we also only required, and were given, minimal IT support while all the big bucks went to securing Windows systems. Even when RedHat linux because popular for servers, we still had to use half-ass Windows servers. I personally set up a multi-server local system using OSX Servers and they were able to support a group of 200-300 Mac users.You won't remember me but we met and you understood our issues with the rest of the system that never really worked for us. It also never really worked well for the Windows users either. You can talk about going to the cloud all you want to but many enterprises are smart enough to not trust cloud vendors to their business' data.

If Apple really wants to get back into the enterprise they gave up on, they need to offer compatible server options, preferably where people can see them like through the Apple Store, that work perfectly with macOS and iOS. We don't want kludged Windows server implementations or command-line driven linux adaptations that don't work the way we work. We're tired of being told to just live with the things that allow Windows users to work better while crippling everything we do. macOS and linux are basically the same thing until you discuss ease of use. Apple runs linux servers, correct? Why not feature those in the Apple Store in various hardware and software configurations geared for people who want to be a primarily Apple shop? Apple is now working with CDW so just create an enterprise Apple Store co-operated by CDW, IBM, and whomever else wants to play in this new era of system cooperation. The first software product would be an Apple-created MDM/Profile Manager/Apple Configurator product that works the way it's supposed to work using the type of built-in HW/SW security only Apple can provide. Yes, let's see the Apple T2 chip built into some server products allowing additional security both to the server and to server applications. Apple doesn't have to provide the servers, just the chips and co-produced software. There are businesses who would appreciate a one-stop shop instead of fighting to get everything working properly.